The Mighty Angels of Daniel 9: The Spirit, the Prophecy, and the Plan

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Daniel 9

Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

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Nathan Jones: I’m always impressed when reading Daniel 9 how Gabriel as the messenger angel, or announcer angel, just talked to Daniel. There was a message to be relayed, but also a conversation took place. Just imagine if a real angel flew down to you and rapping with you? He’s just chatting. Of course, he also comes with some message of blessing from God and the skill to understand that message, but he also just wants to talk. I don’t see that happening too often in the biblical account of angelic visits, but here in Daniel 9-12 it seems more like a conversation than strictly a one-way relaying of a message.

Isn’t it great that when we ask God for understanding, and if it is in His timing and His will, He will then provide us with the Holy Spirit to help us understand His Word?

Vic Batista: Christians should believe that prayer is a powerful tool when it comes to understanding the Bible, particularly Bible prophecy. A lot of individuals go off on rabbit trail interpretations because they really haven’t prayed and sought the Lord for understanding first before delving into the Scriptures.

Nathan Jones: Right, they haven’t prayed first. We need the Holy Spirit to translate for us because our sin nature often times gets in the way of proper interpretation. Then we get mistranslations because we are not hearing what the Holy Spirit has to say. Also, if we stick to a literal interpretation of the Bible and in context, and we don’t spiritualize passages by injecting our own meaning into the Scriptures which isn’t there in the text, well that’s the best way to interpret the Bible.

Vic Batista: With that point, I’m reminded of 2 Peter 1:18-21 where it talks about prophecy, and how that the skill in understanding Bible prophecy doesn’t derive from us, but rather it is the Lord who reveal His meanings to us. In the case of Daniel 9, God goes so far as sending His herald, the Angel Gabriel, to provide Daniel with understanding.

“And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Daniel 9 starts with Daniel praying, but it ends with the Holy Spirit moving on the scene by sending one of His angelic messengers.

Nathan Jones: Exactly! God is working through Gabriel to provide Daniel understanding. Bear in mind that Gabriel is only a messenger. He didn’t create the message. When reading the passage, you’ve got to wonder if Gabriel even understood the message himself, because angels don’t know the future, and here God is explaining the future to Daniel.

The greatest theologians in Church History have struggled with interpreting Daniel 9, as it’s such a complicated passage. But, the book of Daniel is understandable once you inject the rest of God’s prophetic Word into your study. When taken as a whole, Bible prophecy begins making a lot of sense. So, don’t give up!

Vic Batista: There are hard passages in Daniel 9-12. God wants us to trust Him and rely on Him for our understanding, and He’ll clear things He wishes to reveal to us when the time for that prophecy to be fulfilled is right.

Nathan Jones: Start with the big prophetic picture — Jesus is coming back. Three times in Revelation 22, Jesus makes that promise. Jesus also left the Church with the Great Commission, to go out and preach the Gospel to the world before He comes back. If there is any one thing we need to know about Bible prophecy, it is that Jesus is coming back. Some 31% of the Bible is prophetic. There are 500 verses in the Old Testament and 1 in 25 verses in the New Testament that talk about Jesus’ Second Coming.

Here in Daniel 9, we get a big chunk of end time prophecy because Daniel 9 provides the time frame for which we can base the rest of our prophetic understanding upon.

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy

Vic Batista: Let’s look at Daniel 9:23-27. In verse 23, Gabriel prepares to give Daniel the meaning of his vision. “At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.”

Nathan Jones: God then provides Daniel with the time-frame for when the Messiah would finally be coming. He gives that prophecy that we today call Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. It is a prophecy that covers some 483 years before the Messiah finishes up His First Coming ministry. By following this prophecy, we can calculate to the day Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, otherwise known as Palm Sunday.

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.”

Daniel’s seventy weeks hasn’t been quite completed yet, for there is still a one week, meaning seven year, time period left. Skipping over the whole mystery that is the Church Age, Daniel 9:26-27 reveals:

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”

This seven year time period refers to the Tribulation, a future time when God will pour out His judgment on the world for its sins as He did during the Flood. Another reason for the Tribulation will be to bring a remnant of the Jewish people to finally accept Jesus as Messiah.

Daniel is provided by the Angel Gabriel with the entire history from Daniel’s time in the 500s BC up the First Coming of the Messiah. Then there is an interlude after the Messiah is killed, which is the Church Age that we are living in now. Finally, the last seven years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week prophecy describes the Tribulation that is still future.

Vic Batista: How perfect is verse 23 which commands Daniel to “…consider the matter and understand the vision.” God wants His servants to spend the time considering and contemplating His prophetic word, and if confused, to ask the Lord to provide us with His understanding.

Nathan Jones: Yes, as soon as Daniel started his prayer, God sends him Gabriel with the answer.

God’s Great Plan

Nathan Jones: Notice how Gabriel in Daniel 9:23 points out that Daniel is greatly loved by God. The Lord loves His Children. He has given us His Word — the Bible — so that we can understand Him better and what is going to happen in the future. God does so that we can have hope and not be so fearful about all the turmoil in the world.

Vic Batista: God loves us. God has a great plan for each of our lives. God hasn’t chosen us because we are anything special. Rather, God loves His creations unconditionally.

To fully encounter that love, God’s plan for your life starts with a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible says in John 3:16 that “God so loved the world.” Even if you are living in sin as the world does, God still loves you. He loves you so much that He gave up His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. Whoever believes in Jesus will never perish, but have everlasting life. That is the plan God laid out for humanity before time even began.

Nathan Jones: God desires that all people will become saved. He wants our sins to be forgiven. He wants to spend eternity with us. But, we first have to surrender our lives to Him. No more rebellion! It’s time to come back home.

To accept Jesus as your Savior, heed Romans 10:9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

To ask Jesus to be your Savior, pray from your heart in faith and repentance something like, “Dear, Jesus, please forgive me of my sins and be my Lord and Savior.”

In the eighteenth segment of this series on the mighty angels of Daniel, we’ll continue to dive deeper into the details of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy.

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Lamb & Lion Ministries was established for the purpose of proclaiming the soon return of Jesus. We do not believe it is possible to know the date when Jesus will return. But we do believe it is possible to know the season of the Lord's return, and it is our conviction that we are living in that season...